Pittsfield — “What an amazing evening we had so far, but I have a question,” NAACP Berkshires President Dennis Powell said to the audience towards the end of its Freedom Fund Awards event on Saturday, Jan. 20. “What does it mean to be an ally?”
“To be an ally is to unite oneself with another to promote a common interest and advocate for others, especially with individuals who don’t belong to the same identity,” Freedom Fund Chair and Branch Executive Committee Member Caterina Penna said in response. “Ally-ship starts with self-examination to better understand the power, privilege, and access available to you as an individual. It requires deep education about communities you’re interested in demonstrating ally-ship toward to help ensure their fundamental rights and ability to be happy and prosperous. To be an ally is to be in a state of action, of seeing and saying something an ally is more of a verb than a noun. An ally means you’re acting instead of passively standing by.”
A large group of allies from multiple organizations and companies in Berkshire County, totaling over 300 people, attended the awards event held at Proprietor’s Lodge. The purpose of the annual event, which was held in-person for the first time in three years, was to raise money for the organization’s Freedom Fund, which awards stipends for Black and immigrant high school graduates in Berkshire County who will attend college or vocational school. In a press release, the organization stated that it has raised over $75,000 for 86 students through the award ceremony over the years.
Author and historian Kendra Field presented the W.E.B. Du Bois Freedom Fund Award to two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian David Levering Lewis for “community service and being an activist for peace, justice, and equality.” “Lewis has been the most important guiding light in my academic career, and I’m very grateful every day for his mentorship, scholarship, and example,” Field told the audience. “David Levering Lewis’ Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Du Bois was the very last book my father gave me before he died. The significance of this fact has grown in my mind over many years. A little while later, I was given the phenomenal opportunity to edit through Lewis’s two-volume Du Bois biography. The opportunity to meet Du Bois again and to see him through David’s eyes has been one of the most important gifts of my life and one that keeps on giving.”
Lewis could not make it to the January 20 event; however, in an acceptance speech read aloud to the audience, Lewis wrote, “[This award] is among the most meaningful honors in my professional career.”
The Katherine Dunham Freedom Fund Award was presented by Sandra Burton, choreographer and Chair of Williams College’s dance department. Dunham, after whom the award was named, was a dancer, choreographer, and social activist who died in 2006 at the age of 96.
Burton presented the award to Jacob’s Pillow Director Pamela Tatge. “Like Dunham, Pamela Tatge is more than curious about the world,” Burton said. “What she continues to accomplish is fueled by dedication, passion, intellect, and the ability to gather resources together in ways that create new connections and nurture steadfast partners who lean forward towards the future, especially women when the going gets rough. This award is an affirmation of life that is storied in circles beyond this room, and circles that include the local, the regional, and national in the international spheres of the arts in education.”
“I want to thank the NAACP and acknowledge all that they do,” Tatge said in accepting the award. “I am humbled and so honored to be recognized for the work that I have done and that the whole team at Jacob’s Pillow [has] done. I just want to honor this whole team [at Jacob’s Pillow] for the work that they have done along with me to promote peace, justice, equity, and equality. Those are the values listed in the award. And this award is important and precious to all of us who are receiving it tonight, particularly at a time when these values are at risk in our world.”
The Ntozake Shange Freedom Fund award, named after the Black playwright, poet, and activist who died in 2018 at the age of 70, was given to Julianne Boyd, the founding artistic director of the Barrington Stage Company. Boyd retired from the Barrington Stage Company in 2022.
Boyd’s award was presented by Shirley Edgerton, director of Youth Alive Inc. and founder and director of the Rites of Passage Empowerment program (ROPE). Edgerton made a pre-recorded speech that was played to the audience at Proprietor’s Lodge. “Julianne Boyd’s artistic career, personal and professional commitment, along with her passion for equity and justice, exemplifies the character and spirit of this award,” Edgerton said. “She has directed hard-hitting and provocative works. Barrington Stage Company has continued to delight, educate, and challenge its audiences and staff to reflect on their own sense of justice. She has partnered with the NAACP and other organizations in order to act on the inequalities of our communities.”
Boyd was not present at the event, but she thanked the NAACP for the award in a pre-recorded message. “This is really an unbelievable honor and it means the world to me,” Boyd said. “Moving to Pittsfield [from Sheffield] in 2006 was one of the best things we ever did. It allowed us to see the possibilities of working with the community, especially the Black community, which has taught me a lot. One of the things that [the Black community] has taught me is that don’t assume you know what people want. Ask them and they will tell you.”
The Jahaira DeAlto Award went to the committee at the nonprofit organization Berkshire Pride. DeAlto was a community advocate, anti-domestic violence activist, and a ballroom drag scene icon in Boston. She was murdered in May 2021 at her home in Dorchester at the age of 42.
The award was presented by Kelan O’Brien, director of Alumni Engagement at Williams College and the former chair of Berkshire Pride. “I look around this room and I know so many folks who knew [DeAlto], and it’s really nice to honor her,” O’Brien said. “In this room, you can turn to somebody who is next to you who probably did know her and they have a story that they can tell you. I also can guarantee that you have benefited in some way from her advocacy and activism.”
Berkshire Pride “has become a staple in the Berkshires and its festival [held in June] is a cornerstone of Berkshire County,” O’Brien said. “Over the last couple of years, the organization has grown into its own 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and it has extended its programming to be throughout the year beyond the confines of June because every day is the right day to be proud of who you are.”
Berkshire Pride LGBTQIA+ Competency Educator Emma Lenski accepted the award along with several other members of the organization. “We are honored to be receiving this award named for our friend, colleague, and mentor,” Lenski said. “Jahaira was a force to be reckoned with, not only here in the Berkshires, but everywhere she went. She was a co-founder of Berkshire Pride, a mother figure to many, and a warrior for justice. Every day we strive to make her proud by continuing her mission of fighting for equality, justice, and inclusion.”
The Dorothy “Aunt Dot” Davids Indigenous Peoples Award was given to Brittney Peauwe Wunnepog Walley. Davids, who died in 2014 at the age of 91, was an enrolled member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, an educator, and an activist.
Walley is the Chaubunagungamaug and Hassanamisco Nipmuc representative for the Anti-Mascot Coalition and the Special Commission on the Official Seal and Motto of Massachusetts. She is an accomplished weaver who has had her work displayed in the Mead, Roger Williams, and Concord Museums. Walley is currently a Concord Museum Indigenous Archaeology Curatorial Intern.
Her award was presented by Rhonda Anderson, founder and co-director of the Ohketeau Cultural Center in Ashfield. “I want to give some heartfelt gratitude to the NAACP Berkshire County branch and thank you so much for creating a relationship with the Cultural Center, providing opportunities to further visibility of incredible Indigenous leaders in the state, lifting Indigenous voices, and honoring tribal sovereignty,” Anderson said. “For the past seven years, Brittney has been on the Anti-Mascot Coalition, through her hard work, representation, and education, the coalition was able to remove mascots and logos for more than 20 schools across the Commonwealth. She was also able to bring Indigenous Peoples Day to Medway, which is no small feat.”
Anderson said that Walley has “taken a selfless role of serving the needs of our community with incredible strength, patience, and utmost care.”
“I see myself not as someone who has lit a spark of social justice, but merely someone who holds the baton in a relay for change,” Walley said in accepting the award. “My elders and ancestors carried it before me and there will be future generations that continue after me. That being said, to have my leg of the race recognized in this way, is an incredible honor that I had not foreseen. As my mother has always said to me, it takes all kinds to make the world go round.”
The last award of the night, which was not previously announced before the ceremony, was the Presidents’ Allyship Freedom Fund Award, which went to Rebecca Thompson, a member of the Berkshire NAACP. Thompson was not present at the event due to health issues.
Finally, right before the ceremony ended, Berkshire NAACP President Powell, who was diagnosed with cancer last July, announced to the cheering audience that he is cancer-free. “While my journey isn’t over, the cancer is behind me and out of me,” Powell said. “We have the hard work ahead of us, in our community, in our nation, and in our world. May we remember that democracy means rule by the people. I urge you to participate in our activity, ensuring competitive elections, freedom of expression, and the protection of individual civil liberties and human rights.”
For more information about NAACP Berkshires, visit its website.
Correction: While she was listed in the program for the event, Sabrina Allard was not able to attend the event due to illness. Freedom Fund Chair and Branch Executive Committee Member Caterina Penna stepped in for her. In an earlier version of the article, Penna was misidentified as Allard.
